4 health basics for back to school: school days are here again and along with readin', 'ritin', and 'rithmetic, make sure your kids are covered when it comes to health and nutrition.

With back-to-school nerves and stress affecting both parents and children, it's often easy to become overwhelmed during this busy month. Here are some secrets to naturally keeping your kids calm, healthy, and productive for the coming school year.

1 Discover Three Nutrients All Kids Need

Get started with three basic dietary supplements: a multivitamin, probiotics (acidophilus and bifidus), and essential fatty acids (EFAs). You may want to introduce these slowly. That way, you can establish a routine and see how your children respond before everyone's schedule gets crazy. Here's the why behind our nutritional supplement recommendations:

* A high-quality multivitamin ensures a baseline level of nutrition, which is very important when you can't watch what your children are eating during the day. There are many high-quality products available at health food stores designed to suit kids' tastes.

* Probiotics, such as yogurt or acidophilus tablets, contain natural bacteria that act as digestive aids. When children's stomachs are upset (like when they're feeling stress at school), their systems don't function properly and it's harder for them to concentrate in class.

* HAs from flaxseed oil, nuts, and seeds may enhance brain activities in some children. University of Oxford researchers gave omega-3 fatty acid supplements to British children with developmental coordination disorder (which is similar to both dyslexia and attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder) in a 2005 study. About half of the young participants who took the supplements showed increased attention spans and improved their reading skills.

Easy ways to supplement your children's diet with EFAs include chewable docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) tablets and flavored flaxseed oil. You can also find flavored fish oil capsules and liquid. Or stir 1/2 tsp. flaxseed oil into the peanut butter you spread on a sandwich, or substitute flaxseed oil for part or all of the oil in salad dressing or muffin recipes. Hemp seeds are another good EFA source and taste great as a snack or sprinkled on salads, sandwiches, or oatmeal.